AI in the food chain

AI in the food chain

Author: BBC World Service June 12, 2025 Duration: 28:40

How is artificial intelligence reshaping the global food industry? Rumella Dasgupta explores how AI is helping chefs experiment with new recipes, reducing food waste in factories and streamlining supply chains.

She speaks to Tamsin Deasey Weinsten, a though leader on the AI industry, to discover the parts of the food supply chain that AI is affecting the most.

In the kitchen, chef Matan Zakan tells us how he uses AI chatbots to assist him with recipes and food orders.

AI is also revealing problems that have long been overlooked. We speak to Dini McGrath, co founder of ZEST, a company that has developed an AI programme to address food waste.

And the CEO of Chef Robotics, Rajat Bhageria, welcomes us to meet his AI enabled robots, designed to help labour shortage problems in the food industry.


There’s a story behind every meal, and The Food Chain from the BBC World Service goes out to find it. This isn’t just a series about recipes or restaurant reviews; it’s a deep and often surprising exploration of how food shapes our world. Each episode follows a single thread, whether it’s the economic forces that decide what grows in a field, the hidden science in your kitchen, or the profound cultural traditions carried in a family dish. You’ll hear from farmers, chefs, economists, historians, and scientists, all contributing pieces to a larger picture about our global relationship with what we eat. The conversations reveal the complex journey from source to table, unpacking the labor, innovation, and sometimes the controversy, involved in feeding communities. Tuning into this podcast feels like joining a well-reported global conversation, one that changes how you think about the next thing you’ll eat. It connects the personal act of eating to vast systems of business, culture, and science, making the everyday subject of food endlessly fascinating.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

The Food Chain
Podcast Episodes
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Fermented foods are fashionable – kimchi, kefir, kombucha – they're all having a moment, many thousands of years on from where they were first produced. But how much do you know about how they're made? Do you know your S…
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Meal kits have become a familiar part of food shopping in many countries, offering pre-portioned ingredients and recipes delivered to the door. But how widespread are they, and what do they reveal about how people are ea…
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The Mediterranean diet is rich in vegetables, pulses and olive oil and traditionally includes small amounts of fish and very little red meat. Thousands of studies back its health benefits. In fact, it's considered to be…
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Ruth Alexander gathers the most useful, actionable nutrition advice from our episodes of 2025 to help set you up for 2026. Things like how to nourish your brain, keep an eye on portion sizes, and why it’s important to fo…